


Taking Great Pains

by cliniclyInsane189



Series: Whumptober 2020 [20]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Automail, Chronic Pain, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cliniclyInsane189/pseuds/cliniclyInsane189
Summary: Luca has suffered from chronic pain for several years, now. There are good days, average days, bad days, and terrible days.Today is balanced precariously between bad and terrible.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947934
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Taking Great Pains

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Whumptober 2020 Day 21 - Whumptober Day 21 - ‘I don’t feel so well’ - **Chronic Pain** | Hypothermia | Infection.  
> Hope you enjoy!

Luca was always in pain, these days. It never went away. They had their good days, of course, when they could get up and walk and run and climb and stay sat in one position with nothing more than a few twinges in their hips and an ache in what was left of their thigh. These days were, sadly, uncommon. Most days they could walk and run just fine, to an extent, but sitting for too long or more ‘aerial’ pursuits could cause their hip to seize, their back to cramp, their neck and head to ache - especially if they weren’t careful. Some days they were limited pretty much exclusively to walking and sitting, but only if alternated carefully to prevent from doing too much of one at one time. The truly bad days, however… Those were rarer than the good ones, and for that Luca was eternally thankful.

Today, it so happened, was one of the bad days. They could tell from the moment they woke.

Their whole body was stiff and aching, even before they tried to move, and their head throbbed with what was undoubtedly some form of tension headache. They tilted their head to check the time and immediately froze, pain shooting down their spine and their neck and shoulder muscles cramping violently.

They let out a hiss and squeezed their eyes tight shut, biting down on their lip hard.

Moving would be highly unpleasant, but necessary nonetheless - at least as far as the phone. 

They moved their arm and gripped the bedsheets. There was no muscle pain in their arms right now, but the skin of their lower arms felt raw and oversensitive - as if the injuries were still fresh and not long scarred over.

They pulled themselves over onto their side and froze again as their lower back muscles spasmed, leaving them half curled into themselves and gasping.

By the time they managed to reach a sitting position, they were shaking and sweating and their back was still cramping and their right hip felt like it was locked in place.

And their right leg felt like it was on fire, like it was burning up, like it was being torn apart. The phantom pain only got that bad on the very worst days - usually, it only ached or itched furiously like their scars.

This wasn’t quite one of the very worst days, though. At least today they could stand up, though barely. Even without the hip pain, automail was heavy and today it pulled hard at their back muscles, dragging them into a haze of weariness.

All they had to do was get to the phone, call their team to let them know they couldn’t make it in today and then head back to bed.

One step at a time.

They could manage.

They had before.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly wanted to do more with this one, but I've had a kind of shitty day, so I wasn't as motivated finishing this as I was when I started it. Maybe I'll come back and refine it or add to it later.
> 
> Also the lower back cramps part? On one occasion I've had them bad enough that I was incapable of uncurling my spine from the position I was in and thus was unable to stand up. It sucks! So now I'm making Luca deal with it. Sorry, Luca. 
> 
> (And, if anyone was wondering, Luca is pronounced with a soft c. More like Luce-a than Luka.)


End file.
